A Lamborghini SUV. Need I say more?

It’s no secret Lamborghini has a record of heavy duty vehicles, however, my personal favourite, and this week’s Car of the Week, comes from a time when Lambo trucks were old history, but they decided to have a go at an off-roader.

The LM002 was conceived after deciding that supercars were too boring. So Lamborghini started its “Cheetah project”, the purpose being designing a vehicle for the U.S military. The result was a 180 hp, 4500lb mid-engined behemoth, and an utter failure.

The next project, the LM001, was still a mid-engined car and shared all of the same problems of the Cheetah.

Having learned from their mistakes, in 1986 the LM002 was released, with a front engined V12 sourced straight from the Countach, with a 7.2L V12 from a powerboat available for those that thought the standard engine was not powerful enough.

Saudi sheiks were the target demographic for the LM002, so the standard cars were full of creature comforts, and the Pirelli Scorpions that were used were specifically designed for desert use, but remember that this was a military vehicle at heart. Saudi Arabia bought 40 for military use. Libya, 100. And that’s a lot when you take into account they only made 301 of them. A replacement was considered, but it was decided there was just not that much interest, so it was canceled.

There are rumours around the internet that Lamborghini is considering building an SUV based on the VW Touareg. This is a hollow victory because while I’m sure Lambo could come up with a great design and then do a really good job building it, it wouldn’t be as insanely awesome as our Car of the Week.